


Emperor's New Clothes

by SecretWonderland



Series: all things unholy [1]
Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Anxiety Disorder, Attempt at Humor, Canon-Typical Violence, Depression, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya, Multi, Post-Betrayal, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rough Sex, Slow Burn, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, alucard deserves better, alucard is more or less forced to get his shit together, hate sex kinda, i would give alucard the world if i fucking could, if the writers won't give them happiness i fucking will, sypha is the mom friend, trevor and sypha too, trevor fucking belmont
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:09:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23147494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretWonderland/pseuds/SecretWonderland
Summary: What he doesn’t expect is dirty golden hair to get caught under his boot.The man is lying on the floor, wounds on his wrists and some gash on his cheek. His clothes stink, worse than Trevor had ever smelled, torn and stained in several places. Limp and unmoving, the hunter isn’t even sure if he’s breathing, but none of that matters.Because he had found Alucard
Relationships: Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Sypha Belnades, Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Trevor Belmont, Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades, Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades
Series: all things unholy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673224
Comments: 41
Kudos: 447





	1. Belnades and Belmont come home

**Author's Note:**

> hi to my first castlevaina fic! wish me luck

Call him crazy, honestly he probably was. And it’s not like he hadn’t gotten that before, crazy, brute, ignorant, arrogant, he’d heard it all thank you very much but could you blame him after all the bullshit he’d seen in the last year alone? Sypha helped of course because she’s pretty and funny and really does bring the best out of him but he’s still probably at least a little bit unstable. Okay so a lot unstable but once again, in the past year alone he’d gone from being a lonely and dishonored drunk to a proper hero with a beautiful slave driving spell caster keeping him in check, not to mention that he’d defeated Dracula, something that would make his family proud, and in the process befriended a vampire, something that would probably earn him disenharientence if his family _was_ still alive. Yeah there was also his family being dead and with the recent adventure causing him to lose most if not all faith in humanity call him crazy but he kinda envies them. 

So maybe he is a little insane, but why else would he, Trevor Belmont, the last of infamous monster hunters, feel some type of happiness when he sees Dracula- no- Alucard’s castle gleaming in the distance. 

It’s been a long wagon ride here and Sypha hasn’t been herself since they left that god forsaken village and never looked back, but even she’s perking up at the sight, or more likely what the building holds for them. 

Because in that stupid castle that Trevor doesn’t actually hate anymore is Alucard. In all his golden hair glory. Probably still looking as stunning as the day they left him and fuck, Trevor still can’t figure out why they left him. 

Of course there’s protecting very important knowledge that could be burned or stolen and in the wrong hands the information in both Dracula’s study and the Belmont Hold could be _very_ dangerous and more than likely needed to be protected, of course he knew that. But he didn’t see why Alucard had to do it by himself. Couldn’t they have sealed it all off? Sypha could’ve cast a spell, they could’ve locked everything away or, he doesn’t know, something other than leaving the half breed there by himself for over a year. 

It’s one of Trevor’s few regrets, but they’re back now and Sypha has that spark in her eyes that he hasn’t seen in weeks and that’s all that really matters right now. 

The spark in her eyes and the promise of Alucard. 

“Do you think he will be happy to see us?” she asks. She sounds happier, likely seeing their friend is taking her mind off of what happened. Like tiny little children’s shoes that-

Trevor nods. “I’m sure he will be.” 

They’re maybe half an hour away before it hits him. 

He’s not sure what at first, but something is off. Animals still stir around, but they’re sneaking. Almost as if they’re afraid to be caught drinking from the water. It’s eerie and off putting, and it makes Trevor grip his whip a little tighter. 

When they’re thirty feet away from the entrance he understands why his gut has been twisting. 

At first it looks like Alucard just put some signs out on the lawn, but then the signs start looking a lot more like people. The smell of rotting flesh hits first, and then the shock of half human skulls being picked at by crows. Sypha grips his arms. They lock eyes. 

Surely Alucard didn’t do this. Not their Alucard. 

“We need to approach with cation. We don’t know he did this, for all we know he could be dead in there as well.” 

Sypha nods, but her brows are furrowed. “It was a mistake to leave him by himself, huh?” 

Trevor nods, at least they’re agreeing again. 

If the bodies outside aren’t creepy enough, the way the castle doors creak open sure as hell is. Almost like no one had used them in months. Like the place had been abandoned. It’s cleaner than they left it, no more bloody walls or rotting corpses, but cobwebs litter the entrance hall, it smells like no one had been there in decades, let alone three months. Even more disturbing than the smell of lifelessness is the eerie quiet that stretches long after the doors have moaned their way shut. 

Trevor takes the first few steps forward, clearing his throat before calling out into empty space. “Alucard!”

“We’re home!” Sypha adds after a moment. 

They’re met with that stupid deafening quiet that’s beginning to piss Trevor off. 

“Where are you, you stupid bastard! We didn’t come all this way for nothing!” 

But nothing is what they get. Sypha meets his eyes, they nod in unison. If Alucard wanted to play hide and seek, then they would drag him out into the open. 

Climbing up the staircase and going their separate ways, they search. There’s a kitchen that looks almost used, spoiled and rotting food left on plates and two puppets that Trevor makes note of. He ignores the pinch of guilt when he realizes they’re him and Sypha. He takes the dolls with him, not wanting them to collect dust like the rest of the bloody place. Two somewhat used bedrooms, one filled with unfamiliar clothing, bows and other weapons that don’t look like that belong anywhere in Wallachia, but sitting on a desk with a drawing of Alucard and two others neither of them recognize. In the other, an unmade and bloody bed, silver restraints, brown stains on otherwise spotless floors and walls. They leave that room feeling more worried than before, an urgency in their steps. 

By the time they’re done it’s late into the night, but Alucard is nowhere to be found. He wasn’t in the countless bedrooms, the engine room, what appeared to be an alchemy lab, none of the viewing rooms, neither of the forgemasters work spaces, not in what was Dracula’s office, none of the fire rooms, not the dungeon, no where in the fucking castle. They’re reclining in one of the living rooms when Sypha voices what he’s been thinking. 

“Maybe he’s gone out for a bit...he’ll have to return sooner or later. We should wait for him.” 

It’s hopeful thinking, to say the least. But it’s the type of thinking Trevor wants to believe, so he nods. 

“We’ll wait. It’s Alucard we’re talking about. He never strays too far.” 

He can be patient. He can hold his tongue and deal with Alucard’s little disappearing act… He’s a Belmont, a trained hunter. And part of hunting is laying in wait….he can do that.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Three days later and Sypha has informed him that he is the most impatient being she’s ever had the misfortune of being around. 

“Honestly Trevor! You’re worse now than you are when you haven’t had sex or booze for a week!” 

“I am not!”

It earns him a look he’s learned to perceive as trouble. 

“You’ve been pacing in the same spot for four hours, you took the whole day to hunt yesterday and came back with almost nothing, not to mention that you couldn’t even look in Alucard’s room when I cleaned it the first day here.” 

And just like that, Trevor was caught. Curse Sypha’s way of ruining whatever he tried to hide from her. One look into those big eyes and he was gone. 

“I’m worried, okay? This isn’t like him. This whole thing is weird and I don’t like it.”

Sypha softens a little, putting down her current book on top of the others. Some stack from Dracula’s library that was apparently quite remarkable. She crosses over to him, stroking his arm almost like she’s trying to ground him. Unfortunately, Trevor can’t seem to get away from the situation so the circular motions are only making it more real.

“He will come back to us. I’m sure of it.” 

Quiet fills the room again, but only for a moment. Trevor can’t imagine how Alucard dealt with it for so long. Sypha distracts him with a kiss.

“For now, I’ll make dinner. Why don’t you go see if he ever fixed the staircase to the Belmont hold? It would feel good to see it again, yes?”

Trevor nods. Maybe his family is what he needed right now, maybe something in the hold would point to where their friend had gone off to. He’s not sure what has him rushing out faster, a lead to Alucard or to see his family treasure one more time. 

A lift of some sort is hanging at the top, not too difficult to figure out and soon Trevor is facing the doors to the library all over again. Only this time he’s alone and he can feel it in his bones. Doesn’t stop him from pushing the doors wide open. He could admit to being impatient, but never a coward. 

Inside is a mess, much like the castle. Partially cleaned, mostly left alone. There’s a pile of burned weapons by the door, the remains looking somewhat similar to the bows in the mystery room. Trevor ignores it in favor of climbing down the steps and reliving the horrors of the last time he was down here. 

_The monster was coming down too quick, Trevor reached for the Morning Star, praying it was enough right as Sypha came running. He had to protect her-_

  
  


_Glowing hair in candle light distracted him from the book he was trying to focus on. He wanted to be of use dammit! But that stupid moping…._

_“Look, I get that you’re not exactly happy to be here and that we’re about to kill your dad and all but would it kill you to-”_

_“Children, Belmont.”_

_Alucard didn’t turn to face him, golden eyes never leaving the book in his hand._

_“Excuse me?”_

_“In the case, the one with countless vampire skulls. Do you know what’s in there?”_

_Trevor rolled his eyes, ‘It was a long time ago and-”_

_“There are children’s skulls in that case. Your family killed children. Vampire or not, it’s not right to hurt innocents, and what are children other than the purest of pure.” The perfect facade cracks with a sneer. “It’s repulsive-"_

  
  
  


_He can see the bags forming under her eyes, and if that doesn’t speak to how tired Sypha is, her shaking hands say enough._

_“Tired.”_

_“Sleep then.”_

_She pauses. “A bit....lonely...”_

_Trevor sighs, “There’s room enough under this cloak for two...and no one was ever lonely in this house.”_

_Sypha smiles at him and soon they’re huddled under his cloak. It’s nice, to be this close to another, to share the warmth and intimacy. Comforting almost. He longs to speak more, but she’s out far too fast. It makes him chuckle-_

  
  
  


_“What exactly are you doing anyways?”_

_Once again he’s met with Alucard’s back. It’s not a bad sight, not with his coat gone and the usual mean air replaced with some sort of focus. His view has changed since his talk with Sypha last night, and he can see it now. Alucard’s sadness._

_The man takes no notice of him, eyes straight ahead and focused on carving some symbol into the broken mirror. But that wouldn’t do, would it?_

_“Hey! Fangs! I’m talking to you! You can’t ignore me in my own house!”_

_An outburst, yes, something he’s been trying to work on, but it’s enough to get the half-blood’s attention on him. Usually it would get a snide comment, some rude remark that would start some sort of fight between them, but when Alucard looks at him there’s excitement in his eyes. It dims a little as Trevor approaches, but doesn’t quite fade into the usual stoic face._

_“Oh, if it isn’t Belmont. What do you want?”_

_Trevor bites back the rude remark on his tongue, trying desperately to keep Sypha’s ‘be nice’ in the back of his mind._

_“I asked what you were doing, I don’t really get how it can be of use to us.”_

_He expects some comment on how stupid he is, but then the light is back in Alucard’s eyes._

_“It’s a distance mirror, Belmont. If I can get it working then we can see Dracula’s castle, maybe even Dracula himself. It lets us find out where he is, what he’s planning...it could give us the upper hand! An advantage! And the way this is made is amazing and so magical and beautiful and look at the marking craftsmanship!”_

_Trevor hasn’t seen this side of Alucard like this, not looking like a scholar on the brink of discovery, his eyes all lit up and lips actually smiling. It’s almost attractiv-_

  
  
  


_“Do you think he’ll be okay after it all…”_

_Trevor fixes her with a look, “What in the fuck are you talking about?”_

_Sypha hits his arms, lightly, but the ‘be nice’ implication is still there._

_“He’s going to have to kill his own father. That can’t be an easy task, Treffy.”_

_“I thought we agreed that name was awful.”_

_“You’re missing the point.”_

_He’s placed once again under the power of those big honest eyes and he can’t look away._

_“Alucard loves his parents, but he’s putting that aside for humans. Even you, someone he has every right to hate. Up until a year ago he was in a happy home it seems, and now he’s dealing with it all by himself...it must be hard, no?”_

_Trevor racks his brain, trying to find something to put her mind- and his own- at ease. There’s something unsettling about the idea of Alucard hurting…_

_“He’s not alone though. Is he? We’re not much, but he still has us-"_

  
  
  
  


So many memories held one corridor alone, Trevor’s not sure he can stand to be down here for much longer if all he’s going to find is regrets. He’s getting ready to leave when he senses it. A life force, somewhere near him. Somewhere inside the hold. His hand is on his whip in an instant, all his senses on high alert, taking his next steps very carefully.The force is weak, maybe a dying animal that’s been trapped inside, an unlucky rabbit that happened to fall. 

He rounds a corner, sure to find something to take back to Sypha and claim he got lucky on his way back. 

What he doesn’t expect is dirty golden hair to get caught under his boot. 

The man is lying on the floor, wounds on his wrists and some gash on his cheek. His clothes stink, worse than Trevor had ever smelled, torn and stained in several places. Limp and unmoving, the hunter isn’t even sure if he’s breathing, but none of that matters.

Because he had found Alucard.


	2. Cravings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did someone say two chapters in one day because i wanted to write about Alucard but couldn't do it until this was done?

He stares. 

For a longer time that he cares to admit. Can he be blamed though? There’s something captivating about the man, something so beautiful but always out of reach. Breathtaking but shining through always with the promise of life. Like when he ended up on their side til the very end. Eyes glowing and looking every bit the ‘glorious warrior’. 

Must be the vampire bit. 

Eventually the situation does catch up with Trevor and he’s hauling Alucard onto his back, all but sprinting back to the castle. Sypha is already getting ready to yell at him about hurting the doors when she realizes what he’s clutching. 

Hell breaks loose from there. It’s a flurry of moments that Trevor barely remembers. One minute he’s in the doorway, cradling Alucard to his chest and not willing to give him up to anyone, no matter how pretty their eyes are. And the next thing he knows Alucard is on a bed, in what room he’s not sure, but he does know that Sypha is working overtime with her hands and healing words or whatever the hell she calls them while he’s working overtime with his eyes. 

The dhampir’s hair has grown longer, golden locks trapped behind the man’s back and Trevor knows nothing about having long hair but it can’t be comfortable to lay on it...He’s moving the strands before he really thinks about it and suddenly there’s a lot more that he’s noticing. The same puffy marks on Alucard’s wrists are on his chest as well, criss crossed and one aligning perfectly with the scar from his father. The same pattern snakes down his arms and legs, a ring around his wrists.

“It’s from silver,” Sypha begins.

“One of the few things that can actually kill a vampire.” 

“In this case, hopefully just scar them.” 

Hopefully. Trevor remains quiet, half because he knows Sypha would kill him if he didn’t let her focus and half because he had no words for _this_ . What possible creature could _hurt_ Alucard? Trevor himself would’ve been killed their first fight had it not been for someone’s fire. Although, now that he thought about it, she had always been most likely to burn them both at the same time for bickering. Trevor remembered those times like yesterday, Alucard’s laugh, his own happiness, Sypha’s smile…..

She lets out a frustrated yell, “It’s like the silver has ruined his internal systems. Like he hasn’t been eating, drinking, nothing. His heart has all but stopped. I can’t even find a pulse and he’s so cold Trevor!”

He’s on it quickly, checking in the usual spots, neck, wrist, finally he just places his head right across Alucard’s chest, almost getting teary when he hears the faint beat. 

“I have a heartbeat, but he still needs food and warm right?” 

Sypha nods, moving her glowing hands over Alucard’s bare chest. “He won’t be able to digest food, try to get something liquid.”

Not saying it almost makes it worse. Trevor knows, he fucking knows Alucard’s life is in danger, but still the idea of giving blood to a vampire….he shudders, but runs down to the kitchen anyways, barely remembering the way there. 

There’s nothing. Not even a single wine bottle, no beverage for as far as Trevor can see. He runs a head through his hair, he couldn’t just gonna let Alucard die, and the bastard sure as hell isn't gonna drink Sypha’s blood. He grabs a glass from the counter and the knife from his belt. It’s quick, almost effortless, like he doesn’t feel any resistance to giving himself to a vampire. Wouldn’t his ancestors just _love_ that? 

Nothing is said when he returns, a wine glass of blood and a bandage on his arm. Sypha knows, of course she knows Trevor can barely keep anything from her, much less a gaping bloody wound. 

Alucard is looking much better, breathing properly now, scars faded into pink lines. Trevor doesn’t waste time, moving to lift up the dhampir’s head and tilt the glass to his lips. The man’s nose moves first, smelling and sniffing until his eyes slowly start to open. He’s expecting to see gold, confused eyes, kind and hard like the last time he saw them.

These eyes are red, snarling open and before he can move Trevor’s letting him drink, partially scared for his life, partially relieved. If Alucard is up and drinking, even if he is drinking Trevor’s blood, it’s a good sign. But the eyes never look at him, they close midway through the last gulp. They don’t open again.

“Alucard?”

Sypha is by his side in a second. “Alucard? Alucard!” 

Blues crash into each other, “Before we panic let’s think, Sypha. His heartbeat is stronger, he’s warming up, he’s had food, you’ve healed him. There’s nothing left for him to do but rest.” 

Sypha nods. “We need food and baths, we’ll watch him in shifts, you smell worse and I don’t feel like cooking until I make sure I’ve done enough.” 

Trevor takes the hint to leave, even though he will never admit that smelling bad is his fault. He stops halfway out the door to pull Sypha to his chest. “You’ve done more than enough. He’ll be just fine.” 

He kisses her forehead to calm, but he’s not really sure which one of them it’s supposed to help.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Although this reunion has been probably one of the shittest things Trevor’s dealt with so far, at least Alucard has big, working, beautiful baths. So glorious, so pretty. Too many soaps to choose from, but Sypha will like it. He washes quickly, trying his best not to think but the thing about baths and cooking is that they’re meant to make a person think. Running water gets minds turning, and if ignoring it then was hard, trying to remain thoughtless while stirring up a soup is almost impossible. 

Did Alucard even like soup? Had his mother made him soup in this very kitchen? It looked way too friendly, too homely to be in Dracula’s castle of all places. If he didn’t like soup, what did Alucard like? Blood? Meat? Fruit? The humans still on stakes outside? What the hell was up with that? Had they hurt Alucard? Maybe it was a warning not to get close, boy were he and Sypha trampling over that right now. And didn’t Alucard have to get close to kill those two? There surely had to be seomthing there because the stupid bastard wouldn’t have dressed them in his own clothes if there wasn’t. Plus the blood was in Alucard’s bedroom so who’s to say they weren’t in there...doing something….like going after Alucard while he slept! 

Trevor poured himself some of the steaming broth, content with his version of the truth. Alucard was too smart to have been tricked by humans, too powerful to be held down by them. They had to get him off guard, and when was he off guard other than when he slept? It all made perfect sense to him. 

So much sense that he decided to march right back up to the room they had put Alucard in and tell Sypha his theory. 

She didn’t seem as happy. 

“That might be true, but remember the drawing? They were people he _knew_ Trevor, now please stop speculating I’m hungry and want a bath before I sleep but I can do neither of those until you promise me not to bother Alucard while he rests.”

Trevor promises, like there’s actually something he can do to bother someone in a death-like sleep…..okay so there are many things Trevor could do to bother Alucard, but in his defense it was natural to bother the other. What’s weird is Trevor just sitting and staring instead of poking, prodding, or even finding some ink to draw on the sleeping man with. He craves for something, anything. He wants Alucard to open his eyes and mouth off so he can pretend everything is back the way it was, so he and Sypha wouldn’t have to live his life. If their time living like Sypha had run out, maybe they could live Alucard’s life, anything other than remembering those stupid little shoes or all the other horrors he’d seen on the road. He could handle it, Sypha could not. She shouldn’t have to. She deserved better than to be tainted like that and Alucard is a vampire, yes Trevor is acutely aware of that after his little blood-drinking act like an hour ago, but he is far from evil. 

Alucard, as far as Trevor is concerned, is the biggest, most obnoxious, annoying, infuriating prick of a man who almost has Trevor on the verge of begging to hear his voice. Sypha’s would work to calm him for the moment, but he needed Alucard to speak, say something awful so he wouldn’t feel like the worst person in the room, or at least to have someone who understood horrors and knew how to protect those big honest eyes he loved so much. At the bare minimum, hearing Alucard’s voice would mean the asshole was fine and then maybe Trevor could stop bouncing his leg like it was his only working limb. Maybe if he could just get a hold of something he could calm down, he just had to touch something. Something soft, something solid, something familiar, something like Alucard’s hand. 

Trevor doesn’t immediately drop the thing once it’s held in his. He expects to, wants to even, but he’s too preoccupied noticing how _smooth_ Alucard’s hands are. He knew this from somewhere...didn’t he? Trevor racked his brain, searching for the memory until it came, slapping him in the face much like he imagined Alucard would do if he woke up holding the hunter’s hand. 

  
  


_A slap it had been._

_“Oh fuck! My apologies, Belmont.”_

_Golden eyes mock him from behind the safety of his sword. Trevor growls, “I thought we didn’t do bar fights, fangs.”_

_Alucard feined innocence, like his handprint wasn’t on the side of Trevor’s face, like the entire bloody world hadn’t heard the fucking smack. “Me? Vampire Jesus? In a bar fight? You really should figure out your image of me, you sound quite confused. Did I hit you too hard?”_

_Trevor lunged forward, whip at the ready and flying out just to grab that stupid smirk off a certian dhampir’s face, snatching the infurating floating sword while he’s at it. He manages to back the other into the wall of their shitty camp, some torn up old building with enough roofing to be considered ‘shelter’._

_Alucard’s hands come up to rest on his chest, “Bad idea Belmont, getting this close to a vampire could result in more than one thing going wrong.”_

_Only Trevor’s past caring, he traped Alucard in with his hands on either side, “Really? Because it looks to me like you’re trapped with nowhere to run and no weapon to attack with.”_

_“You forget I have these.” The fangs are on full display, but Trevor doesn’t flinch, simply keeps eye contact because no matter how many jokes he makes, he knows Alucard won’t do it._

_“And?”_

_He won’t sink those fucking fangs anywhere near anyone’s neck unless he has their fucking premission. This particular theory proved right when Alucard pulled away, pushing with soft hands on Trevor’s chest, breaking away with his eyes._

_“If it were anyone else you’d be drained meat by now.”_

_Trevor smiles, but Alucard’s feather-like fingers still press on his chest so he backs up. “Yeah but it’s not any other blood sucker, it’s you.”_

  
  
  
  


Sypha’s quiet when she peers back into the room, half expecting Alucard to be a pissed off mess glaring at Trevor’s air-headed grin. It pains her to see Trevor gripping a limp pale hand, pressing it to his forehead and taking deep breaths. 

“Your soup was delicious.” She begins, making her way other and standing behind him. Small delicate hands rub their way down broad shoulders, down tensed arms and gently add themselves to the pile. Two tiny hands surrounding bigger ones. 

They stay like that for a while, Sypha draped over Trevor in a hug, holding on the both of them. She hates that the need for sleep wins out. 

“Come on, he may not be warm enough, we should sleep with him.” 

“And let your icy toes freeze what’s left?”

Sypha has to hide her smile, “That’s the point of adding you to the mix. Get in and stop complaining.” 

The two of them slide in on either side, and once they notice how cold Alucard actually is, they’re encasing him in their arms. It’s familiar almost, and she can place the exact moment.

  
  
  


_Trevor’s so exhausted he doesn’t even notice the thunder outside._

_“He would take the only place that isn’t getting soaked…”_

_Sypha turns to Alucard with a giggle, “We’ll just have to join him then.”_

_She drags him away from the cracked window before he can protest, knocks him down and slides in easily behind him._

_“Sypha! Why do I have to be in the middle?!”_

_“Imagine the look on my grandfather’s face if I slept between two men! He might have a heart attack and who would that leave me with? Two giant babies who never cease their fighting? At least right now Trevor can admit he’s comfortable around you.”_

_And that he is, Sypha had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing at the sight of Alucard’s face as Trevor wound himself around the other man._

_“Better get comfortable,-_

“-Trevor. It’ll be a long night if you don’t.” 

She echoes the same words back to Trevor that she once said to Alucard and for a moment the sadness is almost too much, but then that pout she’s grown to love comes into view. 

“Fine by me, but if you wake him up with your cold toes there’s nothing I can do to stop him if he decides to kill you.”

“Like he would, I seem to remember both of you bowing to my every whim.” 

That shuts him up finally. Or Sypha would like to think it shut them both up, but the real factor is Alucard shrinking into Trevor’s chest, reaching out blindly for _something_ until Sypha is in his grasp and he stills. 

The look on Trevor’s face would be priceless if Alucard wasn’t in such bad shape, and before she knows it her face is matching the shock on his.

Tears, glowing in the setting sun from the window they’ve left open, stream down Alucard’s face. He groans and shakes and it’s all Trevor can do to hold him still while Sypha shushes him, running those small hands down his cheeks and petting his hair while stronger arms rock. He’s choking out names they don’t know, between a string of words they can’t make out. 

Eventually the crying ceases, and Alucard’s face morphs back into a blank slate. They stay close, mainly because the dhampir is clutching at them with an immovable grip, but also because they’re scared. To see Alucard this way….Trevor’s hold on the man tightens. He looks like he’s on the verge of losing everything and Sypha...

Sypha prides herself on never letting the ones she loves suffer. 

And yet here Alucard and Trever are, both hurting in ways she knows nothing of, and can’t even begin to comprehend how to heal. 

Her chest aches.

There is no spell for this.

Sypha finds it just as heart-breaking as tiny little shoes on tiny little wooden shelves. 

Only this time it’s much scarier, because something tells her the fight has hardly begun


	3. Warmth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, uh, thank you for all the feed back! It makes me really happy and I'm really just determined to see my idiots get the happiness they deserve because canon is doing a shit job of it right now.

It’s dark where he is.

So very dark and it’s usually so fucking cold but now it’s burning like silver on his wrist or a hand running through his chest. It’s strange, warmth is something he hasn’t felt in...in so very fucking long. The feeling running through his body is almost painful, but every emotion seems painful these days _.  _ Everything hurts so much he’s not sure where to start, the darkness isn’t anything new. That’s been here since he realized he had to kill his dad, and watch those eyes that used to smile and laugh with him go dark. He’s been walking with that for so long he’d almost forgotten about it until….well until Trevor and Sypha had given him hope for himself. That had just been two sets of eyes that abandoned him like his parents. What a cruel joke that was. Didn’t they always come in twos anyways? Just like…

No.

If he thought about them, about any of them he would feel again, and that was the worst thing Alucard couldn’t deal with again.

Inside, if he doesn’t think, he doesn’t really feel anything but the dark. It’s both alarming and calming at the same time but he can’t care enough to figure out which it is. He tried to touch the hidden emotions once and then they all disappeared. It was better that way. 

Alucard didn’t care to look for them, finding himself laying down most of the days. Not as different from his current position, only this time instead of the cold castle floor it was warm.  _ Soft.  _ He didn’t fucking trust it. 

The smell was familiar, like the sky and the earth had somehow snuck into his bed and captured his senses. Also not a good sign. 

There are two of them, on either side, and he knows from the heartbeats alone who they are.  _ Why  _ they’re here he has no idea, even less thought as to why they’re in  _ bed  _ with him. He could go without being in bed with anyone else for the rest of his cold, dead, immortal life. 

Logically, he knows Trevor is the one holding him. Big arm around his waist, breath tickling his ears. And if Trevor is holding him that means Sypha is logically the one curled into his chest, hair right over his heart. Logically, if they’re in bed with him, and they found him, and they haven’t hurt him, that means they probably  _ aren’t _ going to hurt him. But that had been his logic last time.

That turned out  _ great. _

He needs to get away. The warmth, the feelings,  _ them _ . It’s too much. He should rip out their throats before they have the chance to do it to him. Yeah, that’s a good plan. 

  
  


_ It’s warm between them, he opens his eyes and sees two brown ones smiling back at him. Taka goes down, there’s a warmth he hasn’t felt before and oh god, it’s so, so good. Sumi leans in and those soft lips meet his, inviting, comforting, so very sweet. So fucking warm. She pulls back, right as Taka takes him in.  _

_ He shuts his eyes, a moan tearing it’s way out of his chest _

  
  


Kill them before they turn out like...like….like the others. Leave him alone in his castle, alone and at peace as long as people stop stepping foot inside his fucking grave like they fucking own it. 

Alucard peaks his eyes open, and when he sees them any thought of hurting them flies out the window. 

Her hair smells like lavender, still drying and the only cool part on his chest. Fingers clutch at his shirt, from here he can see long lashes and pouty lips. His heart stutters, and then there’s breath on his ear and he turns. 

His scar is still there, over his eye and pink like his lips, open and parted and sending shivers down Alucard’s spine. Stubble on his neck, growing up to his chin, smelling like mahogany and stopping whatever brain process Alucard had going on.

They’re perfect and real and here and clouding up his senses and how could Alucard even think to hurt them-

_ Those eyes, beautiful brown eyes. Swords gleam in the moonlight, “Please!” _

He creeps out of the bed, making sure not to wake them. They make faces, feeling the empty spot between them until they’re in each other’s arms. The way it’s meant to be, the two of them, without him to ruin it. They look stunning like this, the soft morning glow, happy sleeping faces, blissed out and peaceful. Alucard clutches his chest.

It  _ aches. _

Like his lungs are collapsing and falling apart and nothing. There’s nothing. Ice seeps back into his chest, through his veins and moves to every muscle in his body. Part of him wants to sleep, the other wants to be as far away from them as possible. 

Alucard takes a breath, almost as shaky as his hands. He doesn’t take his eyes off them, committing this image deep into his brain. The biggest idiot and the sweetest person he’d ever met in his life, curled up and happy. Warm.

The reality is gone in a flash of gold, still burning in the back of his eyelids the next time he blinks. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Wake the hell up.”

Uncommon to say the least. Unhappy is how he really feels but Sypha has  _ The Tone _ so it’s safest for him to just keep his mouth shut and open his eyes. He’s about to ask what’s going on but it’s pretty clear, there should be two people next to him, and instead he only sees Sypha, arms crossed and mad as  _ hell.  _

“Where is-”

“Alucard? I have no fucking clue. I was hoping you’d have an answer before I tear this place apart looking for him.”

Instead of commenting on his lover’s fowl language this morning, Trevor rolls out of bed and grabs his boots. 

“He can’t have gone far.”

“That’s what I’m worried about, he’s injured! He shouldn’t be roaming about until he’s at least had solid food and don’t get me started on the bodies outside we still know nothing about and- hurry up! We need to start looking as soon as we can.” 

Trevor nods, forgoing his full outfit in favor of not losing his life to Sypha’s flames. “We found him in the hold the last time, he might be there again.” 

She’s halfway gone, turning back in an afterthought, “I’ll check there, you start looking in the castle.  _ Find him, _ Treffy.”

With an order from her, Trevor stands. Anything for his Speaker. 

The only issue is figuring out where the stupid dhampir had gone off to. Trevor has some ideas, not much but maybe something to work with. 

Childhood bedroom, a perfect place for Alucard to be. It was where he grew up, Trevor knew he was fond of the room. When the hunter sees it’s empty, save dried blood that was not there when Alucard staked his own fucking father, he curses himself and sprints to the next possibility.

Dracula’s study. Alucard likes books, fireplaces, and it would remind him of the good times he had with his father! Another perfect place that winds up being as empty as his head apparently. 

One last hope, the kitchen. It was the only room that looked remotely used on a constant basis, it had sunshine and was warm and bright and the perfect place for Alucard to _ not  _ be. 

Trevor hangs his head, where the hell did he go?

“If I were Alucard, where would I be?” 

  
  
  


_ “It’s a beautiful view, ya know.” _

_ “Looks like a fun way to die if you ask me.” _

_ They’re staring up at the peaks of the castle, shimmering in the sunlight and with no evil vampire inside it, it almost looks beautiful. Definitely in the haunted way, but still aesthetically pleasing. Alucard chuckles beside him.  _

_ “Maybe if you can’t fly, or if you’re clumsy. But when you’re up there the world fades around you. Literally, the land stretches for miles, and either the sun or moon illuminates it almost like a painting. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.” _

_ Trevor turns his head to make some stupid side comment, but then he sees Alucard, in all his golden glory, lit up with the sunset behind him and it’s all Trevor can do not to blurt out ‘you’re one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen’.  _

_ “I bet it is.” Is what he settles for.  _

How stupid of him. He’s sprinting up the stairs before the memory is complete, hoping this will be right. If not he’d have to admit to having nothing between his head and using his brain for the sole purpose of beer facts that are fun, no matter what Sypha says. 

How many fucking steps can they even fit in a castle, it’s fucking ridiclous and Trevor is five seconds away from stopping and saying ‘fuck it’ but it’s Alucard he’s running to, hopefully. Plus, if Sypha found out he stopped just because of some stairs, he’d never hear the end of it. If she let him live that is. Not that he wants to stop now. Last night had shaken him. He’d never seen Alucard cling like that. 

Alucard is like a cat, aloof and distant, yet still fun to be around. He didn’t cling and cry over nothing, and Trevor would be damned if Alucard cried alone one more time. 

It’s cold when he enters the room, sends goosebumps up his arms, it's so chilly. Or maybe the goosebumps come from the view. 

He’s sitting on the ledge, facing into the sunlight, absolutely glowing. And the landscape behind him, green and full with birds flying by and the sky so bright and blue. It’s enough to take his breath away, until Alucard turns to him. 

Gold eyes widen and he can see the man getting ready to run.

“Wait! You can’t avoid us forever!” 

He looks like a deer seeing a hunter, hand gripping the rail, looking around for the exit Trevor is blocking. 

“You’re hurt, Alucard. Sypha is worried sick, I’m worried sick. Let us at least look after your wounds.” 

The dhampir stays frozen, only the look on his face is growing more panicked with every word. In a normal situation with a hurt animal, Trevor would approach slowly, let the creature sniff, and then begin patting. So that is exactly what he decides to do here. What are humans other than animals with complex reasoning? They’re still animals. And what is Alucard other than half-human? Sweet words and slow motions are all it takes to get close, and fuck Trevor is praying to whatever’s out there that this’ll work.

“Do you remember about a week before we left?” Step.

“You told me about this place.” Step.

“About how pretty it is during the daytime.” Step.

“How it looks like the earth is glowing.” Step.

“I didn’t believe you at the time.” Step.

“But I do now.” Step.

“I can see why little Alucard would come hide up here.” Step.

“It’s a pretty place to avoid punishment.” Step.

“Only you always forgot your mom loved it too.” Step.

“Remember how you told me?” Step.

“She’d always find you up here, hiding from whatever prank you’d done to your dad.” Step.

“And the two of you would read.” Step.. 

“You loved it.” 

One final step and he’s standing right in front of the other. Alucard’s eyes are wide and frantic, he’s frozen in place and Trevor can smell the fear coming off of him. He takes a second to wonder why the fuck Alucard think he of all people would hurt him, but the thought drifts away when Alucard moves to run and Trevor’s catching his wrist and pulling him close. 

It’s a lot like hugging a cat, he realizes. Alucard tries to fight him off, pushing and straining to get loose. If he really didn’t want to be held, Trevor knew he had the strength to get free. But Alucard isn’t using his claws, his punches feel like a child’s, he keeps his head down and tries to shove but instead his hands clutch at Trevor’s shirt. 

Trevor stays still, merely the arms holding the other up, keeping him safe until his fit is over. It doesn’t take long until the thrashing is calming and Trevor carefully lifts a hand to the back of Alucard’s head. It’s a gamble, and he knows it, but if it works, it might make this whole thing easier. If it works, it could be the key in getting his snarky crush back. 

“Adrian.” 

Alucard freezes. 

Trevor let’s his hand card through golden locks. He’s not sure what to say now, but he needs to make sure Alucard knows they would never hurt him. Not like this. Not when something has clearly happened and thrown the man’s world into hazards. Not when he’s frozen in Trevor’s arms. He goes with what Sypha tells him when it’s all too overwhelming and he can’t sleep at night.

“It’s okay. You’re safe. I’ve got you.”

Words he’s heard countless times, between inn sheets and his cloak when they sleep in the wagon. Always spoken in the dead of night, always soothing to his core. 

Alucard jolts. And then he’s sobbing. 

Trevor holds him tighter, hands moving through hair just like Sypha does to him. It works like a charm because pretty soon Alucard is starting to droop. He doesn’t protest when Trevor swings him up into his arms, just hides his face in Trevor’s chest while he cries the entire way down the staircase where Sypha is waiting. 

She joins them the second Trevor’s feet hit the ground floor. Instead of throwing herself on top of them like Trevor knows she wants to, she settles for rubbing Alucard’s back, whispering words of comfort burned into Trevor’s mind.

“It’s okay. You’re safe. We’ve got you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all ready to see Alucard break next chapter?


	4. Calm before the storm

He’s sat down in the kitchen, on the counter and he wants to protest but it’s almost like his energy has gotten drained from him. He feels so empty, so alone. Just like he was when-

Sypha’s face comes into view. 

She reaches up, tucks stray hairs behind his ears, takes a limp hand in her own small and cold ones. 

Alucard doesn’t change. Staring blankly into the distance. Unresponsive and vacant like the two of them had found a ghost instead of a living being. She’s saying something, he knows he should listen or at least try to pay attention but he can’t. 

He can barely feel the warmth from her body, and all he can see is someone who will hurt him, someone who  _ has  _ hurt him. Someone without brown eyes, looking at him like he’s the most precious thing. Like he’s fragile and on the verge of breaking. Alucard blanks out and then Trevor is there, supporting him. Sypha spoons him something, he swallows. He doesn’t taste it. 

They draw him a bath in one of the bigger bathrooms, one of them asks if he can wash himself. He nods. 

Warm water encases him, he lets himself sink further and further and further, Maybe the water can cleanse him of it all. Maybe it can fill up his lungs and tug him down, it's impossible, but he wants the burn. He wants to- hands pull him up. 

Trevor is there again, with Sypha in tow. They’re shouting something. He only makes sense of the last bits. 

“-trying to kill yourself?!” 

“Trevor! Calm down! It’s Alucard, water can’t kill him unless it’s blessed and neither one of us is qualified for that.”

Trevor still grips his shoulders, but Alucard doesn’t mind. It’s more grounding than anything, to have something pressing into him and hurting just enough so that he can  _ feel something.  _

“Can you drown?” 

A question. He blinks once, a question is supposed to be answered. Another blink. Didn’t he have a voice to answer with? Where did his voice go? Did Taka suck it out of him? Did Sumi steal it? Where did it-

“Alucard.”

He looks up and meets blue, not brown. Blue like water, like the sky, like something he's lost. Blue is safe, he decides. Blue is calming. He missed blue. 

His mouth opens and closes, but nothing comes out. No matter how hard he tries, no sound, not even a squeak. He shakes his head instead. He’d swam in a lake almost every day as a child, water never hurt him unless some preacher asshole had blessed it and even then, it wouldn’t kill him, just burn a lot like...a lot like silver. 

Trevor lets a breath out that Alucard didn’t realize he was holding. “Do you...do you  _ want  _ to drown?”

Sypha’s heartbeat quickens, her eyes go wide, hands clenching at her side.

Alucard nods.

It’s almost nothing, a ghost of a movement, but it’s honest, and he’s never been a good liar. He never...he would never...didn’t his mother teach him that lying is bad? Even if it does result in hurting them...but if he-

_ “I never lied to you”  _

_ Fuck he could feel it, their blood was leaving too fast, their bodies were falling off the bed, the swords crashed to the ground oh fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck _

  
  


A throat clears. 

“We are sorry for barging in, we’ll be waiting for you when you get out.” 

Trevor turns to Sypha, everything in his posture screaming for a fight. And then it all washes away. He stands, takes one more look back at Alucard, and then follows her out the door. 

But Alucard can still hear them.

“Sypha! What the hell?!”

“He’s naked Trevor, and probably doesn’t want us in there with him.”

“But what if he tries something stupid, he shouldn’t be alone. And his scars-”

“Will heal, but we have to give it time, we can’t force him into things, you know Alucard has never worked like that.”

“Alucard is  _ barely working,  _ if you haven’t noticed, he’s not eating, he can’t or won’t talk, which is fucking weird because I for one don’t remember a time he was  _ ever  _ quiet, not to mention the amount of crying Sypha! And to top it off he’s killed two humans?!” 

Alucard flinches in the tub, he had killed them. They were in his bed, he had hurt them. He deserved to drown, if it was even possible he wanted it. 

“Something fucked up happened and he’s not gonna tell us about it and seeing him like this makes me want to fucking-”

“ _ Trevor. _ ”

The voice stops immediately. 

“He doesn’t have to tell us about it. It is his choice, not ours. There’s only so much we can do without his permission and we are  _ not  _ crossing lines here. We are  _ not  _ failing here too. Do you understand me? This is Alucard, he is someone we cannot replace, we  _ care  _ about him. Who cares if he doesn’t speak? He’s still interacting which is a lot better than when we found him. And he’s stomaching human food, another improvement. He is hurting, and I know you want to protect him and that seeing him like this is hard but we must keep going. We can’t let him deal with this alone.  _ I  _ will not let him suffer by himself anymore. So pick your whiny ass off the floor and help me clean so he has a nice place to come out to.” 

There’s a pause and then the sound of a sighing, soft as feathers.

"I'm sorry, I went to far-"

Trevor's boot stomp across the floor, "It's okay. You're right. We can't mess this up. Not this, not when it's this important." 

There's a sound it takes a second for the dhampir to place, like two petals meeting, or hands brushing against each other.

A kiss. 

Alucard sinks back into the water. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Trevor waits, tapping his foot and getting glares from Sypha but he doesn’t care. Alucard’s been in the bath long enough for them to clean an entire hallway, granted Sypha did most of it with magic but still. 

They’re waiting in the room outside the bath they left the man in, Sypha has tons of oils and shit he has no clue how to use, but she said it would help Alucard relax. It’s larger than any dressing room he’s ever seen, even the ones from the Belmont Estate. There’s a mirror, three of them. One at the vanity Sypha has all her shit on, one right beside the door, but the one he catches Alucard’s eye in is the one by the window. 

He comes out slowly, a silk white robe wrapped around him and smelling like everything Trevor is longing to dive into. Like a drink, maybe a bed, definitely Sypha’s arms. He starts to speak but Sypha beats him to it.

“Alucard!” She flashes a warm smile, trotting over to his side. A hand is held out, an offering. Alucard stares at it and for a second Trevor is sure he’s just going to stare. Leave Sypha empty handed and rejected. And then a hand lifts.

The dhampir is lead back to the vanity, Sypha pulls back the chair. 

“Is it okay if I brush your hair?”

Alucard nods. 

Trevor leaves the room.

“Forgive him, a lot has happened since we last saw you. Not to mention that personal hygiene has never been one of his strong points.”

Hope courses through her body as a corner of Alucard’s lips twitch. It’s a ghost of a ghost’s smile but it’s a smile nonetheless. She hums as she works, staring with a quick hair brush, making sure to be gentle with knots and rub through Alucard’s scalp while she does. The braid is quick, it’s been a long time since she’d done one, but on Alucard everything looks stunning. 

“There we go! I’ve wanted to do this since the day I saw you, almost tackled you every night and here all I had to do was ask.”

No reply, but she had gotten a smile. Sypha counts it as a win, taking his hand and brushing her fingers over it. She kneels down, keeping their hands together. When she looks up all she sees is gold. 

  
  
  
  


_ “You’re staring.” _

_ “Can you blame me? You have the most unusual eyes.”  _

_ Golden orbs glare back now, the annoyed expression quickly fading to offended. Sypha stumbles over herself to explain. _

_ “Not in a bad way! They’re stunning! I’ve never seen anything like them, and if you look close enough, it’s like looking at everything warm in the world. As though everything we could ever need is locked away inside those eyes of yours…” _

_ They’re both staring now, both wide eyed and Sypha knows she’s blushing, but she also sees a little hue to the dhampir’s cheeks. She giggles at the thought. She made Alucard blush, and it was down right adorable. _

_ “Are you sure your eyes aren’t magical?” _

_ Alucard rolls them, “Sypha this has to be your worst line yet.” _

_ She just laughs. _

  
  
  
  


“Your eyes are still magical you know.” Breathless, and so quiet she almost thinks Alucard won’t hear it. 

He does, eyes widening and then filling with shame, regret, pain. 

Sypha sighs. 

“Come on.”

She leads him out the room, past where she and Trevor are sleeping, but not far. Literally the next door over. 

“We figured you didn’t like being between us, given the disappearing act from this morning, but we still want to be close. Is this okay?” 

The door opens and Alucard steps in. He nods, taking in the fresh sheets, the candle burning, his dolls on either side of a big pillow. 

Sypha waits in the threshold, clearing her throat. “Goodnight, Alucard. Sleep well.”

He inclines his head, as if saying ‘you too’. She doesn’t wait for the words to come, they won’t for now. 

For now. 

  
  
  
  
  


Brown.

All he can see is brown eyes, dried brown blood, brown stakes. It’s happening too fast,

“ _ You deserve a reward _ .”

He doesn’t want a reward.

Sumi is beside him, didn’t he kill her? Why is she back? 

They pin him down. He can’t breath.

“Please! I don’t-”

Taka smiles, he shouldn’t be here either.

“ _ Alucard” _ They sing, he’s crying. 

“Stop!”

“ _ Let us give you- _ ”

“No!”

They’re shaking his shoulders, he can feel the silver again.

“Please-”

“ _ Alucaarrd” _

Their eyes are hollow, half skeleton faces sneer down at him. Their throats are slit, he did kill them. They don’t stop.

“ _ Alucard _ ” 

He sobs, their blood is on him, he can smell it, the sting, the hurt, their swords are above his chest. It’s a reflex, he knows what happens next but he can’t stop it, he can never stop it.

“Alucard!”

He bolts awake, nearly smacking Trevor right in the head. 

It’s blue, not brown, but his sword is threatening to slit the man’s throat. 

Alucard gaps, his sword clatters to the ground, he can’t breath he can’t-fuck- did he drown like Trevor said? Is the silver back? Why can’t he? Where had his-

“Hey, it’s okay.” 

Hands, bigger than his, reach out and pull him close and it’s warm again. Not overwhelming, but grounding. This warmth doesn’t swallow him up and light him on fire, it slaps the air back into his lungs, it quells the violent shaking into shivers.

“I know we promised to leave you alone tonight, but you were screaming….” Trevor trails off, he wants to say more, but Alucard is gripping him so tight he’s worried about it drawing blood, not to mention the small cut on his throat from the man’s sword. He lets his hands rub small patterns into Alucard’s back until the man isn’t clinging to him like he’s the only thing that’s real. 

Trevor grits his teeth for the next part, but he promised he wouldn’t cross lines. He couldn’t risk hurting Alucard even more. 

“Can I sleep here with you?”

The man in his arms freezes, but his hand grips tighter. Trevor takes that as a ‘yes’. He eases hands away and slips into the covers. Part of him wonders if this is really okay, after all Alucard didn’t nod, and he certainly wasn’t going to talk, maybe he was fucking all of this off and then their friend would never be helped because he-

Alucard buries his face into Trevor’s chest and his brain shuts down. Tears seep through his shirt, but he doesn't care. He cradles the blonde head in one hand, and traces patterns with the other. 

Trevor’s still awake when Sypha slips into the bed later that night. They both keep their eyes on the middle until she’s tucked in on the other side.

But Alucard’s breath has long faded into even puffs, eyes shut and for the first time since they’ve arrived he looks at peace.

If only it could stay that way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if only, am i right?


	5. As Above, So Below

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for blood, a shitty fight scene, and i think that's all but please be safe and I promise you all a happy ending :)

Habit is an easy thing to fall into, Trevor finds. It’s a slow process, but Alucard is still there when they wake up this time, and that’s a start. 

He’s curled into Sypha and it’s such a cute sight that making breakfast for three seems less like a chore, more like a privilege. Plus if he went ahead and cleaned the kitchen while he was cooking he might make Sypha smile. What a sight for sore eyes that would be. 

Midway through eggs is when he finally notices someone there, staring with gold eyes and covered in a blanket. 

“Good Morning.” 

Alucard doesn’t speak, but he does nod and with sunlight streaming in through the kitchen windows, bed head, and a sleepy expression Trevor shuts down for a second. The man before him is so fucking stunning. 

“You didn’t steal Sypha’s blanket, did you?” 

Alucard shakes his head, Trevor holds his hand out. He doesn’t know what he’s expecting, but when a cold hand grasps his warm one, his body decides for him. Before he knows it they’re hugging again, wound up in blankets with a mouth at his throat and the smell of home in his nose. 

“That’s good, I sometimes think her toes would fall off if not for a blanket keeping them together.” 

A minute or two passes before they’re pulling away and Trevor is heading back to the thing he vaguely remembers being explained as a ‘stove’. It’s quiet, and a little awkwardly so, and it might not be the best move but silence and Trevor have never gotten along. 

“You know, my mom would always spout bullshit about morning rituals. One week she made us all wake up before dawn and clean the manor with our bare hands. But no matter what she would always find weird ways to show she cared about us. For the last month before, ya know, she would make us line up and give us all ‘good morning’ hugs. She was probably the least emotionally constipated out of all of us, or maybe she was worse….”

He’s blabbering and he knows it. He should find a point soon, before he rambles into something he doesn’t want to share. Something he’s locked up for far too long. Luckily, his eggs finish just in time. 

“She also had this stupid rule that before we did any hard work, we had to eat.” 

Trevor scoops eggs onto a plate, slaps some meat beside it and places it before Alucard. 

“I think I’m trying to say we can fall into something similar. Only I think I should probably get more in touch with the um, stove? Is that what that thing is? Took me an hour to figure out it was meant for cooking.” 

Alucard glances up at him, and for the first time in a long time there’s  _ warmth  _ in his eyes. A small smile playing on his face. He nods, a definite response and Trevor finds himself grinning back. 

“You made breakfast?!” 

Sypha attaches herself to his back, climbing up like some type of monkey. He laughs while he catches her. 

“I have! Enough for three, m’lady.” 

“What a treat! If I get down will you make me a plate?” 

Trevor nods and gets a blinding smile in return before his little monkey is gone and giving Alucard a small hug, sitting beside him. 

“Can you believe Trevor of all people knows how to cook?”

“Hey!” 

“I didn’t believe it either and it took me months to find out, can I tell him Treffy?” 

When Trevor doesn’t say ‘no’ Sypha all but squeals. 

“So the story goes, when Trevor as a boy his sisters were always after him, constantly picking fights and he would  _ lose,  _ so one day he ran into his kitchen to hide and one of the butlers took pity on him and taught him how.”

She shares a few more as Trevor joins the little table, talks about the life on the road and how she hadn’t seen a stove until she was nine. About the wild bird that had chased her and Trevor for miles all because Trevor couldn’t resist her eggs. About her first time using magic and Trevor rolls his eyes but he sees it. The small smile on Alucard’s face that’s changing. It softens and warms and suddenly he doesn’t look like a scared animal, but the man they left. The Alucard that always looked at them with such fondness it hurt sometimes. He’s thought it before, and he’ll think it a million times, Alucard truly is beautiful. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


_ Firelight and the moon are the only reason he sees it, really. They’re gathered together, in one of their small circles and Sypha is storytelling again. This time it’s a children’s story she heard in the mountains, something about three bears and a witch but he really hadn’t been following along.  _

_ She’s stunning, arms moving and painting a picture as she speaks. Hair bouncing, eyes wide and bright and so innocent, so pure. She’s like a beacon of light in the darkness that surrounds them, quite literally glowing in the heat of the fire. Her smile rivals the stars and in every way Trevor is so fucking gone.  _

_ His head moves to the side and his heart trips over itself.  _

_ He’s just as stunning. Golden locks swaying in the light breeze, clear smile during the funny bits, the way his face scrunches with something unpleasant. He’s solid, like the ground Trevor has learned to trust, something that’s always there when he needs it. He’s more similar, but noble, and so very good. He laughs at something Sypha says and Trevor stops breathing.  _

_ It’s been a long time since he’s felt this, since he looked at someone and known without a doubt that he would do anything for them, Belmont name be damned. He’d kill any demon that comes their way, he’d wipe every tear on their cheeks, he’d hold them in their darkest hours. Anything for the two beautiful people giving him odd looks under the moonlight.  _

_ “Trevor?”  _

_ “Lose what little brain you have left?”  _

_ Trevor rolls his eyes. “Eat shit, fangs.” _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Trevor?” 

Two people give him the same odd looks, only this time it’s at a kitchen table. 

“Just thinking.” 

Alucard doesn’t make a joke, there’s no snide remark about it being a miracle, or a brain dead snark waiting for him. Somehow that makes it worse. 

Just like that, they go on for a week. They wake up together, Trevor leaves to make breakfast, they eat together and he falls into memories that haunt him for hours while the three of them work around to clean the castle. Sometimes Alucard will get distant, they don’t dare enter three specific rooms, Sypha actually ices the doors so they can’t be opened. Sometimes they sit in front of the fire, reading or listening while Sypha reads, other times they go on walks, shielding Alucard from the stakes until they’re far enough that he can’t see them. They’ll get lost in the forest, catch fish down by the lake, visit the Hold. Trevor hugs him for a long time when he realizes how much Alucard has rebuilt. There’s a ‘thank you’ whispered in a pale ear, but neither of them talk about it. It’s a habit they’re falling into, until the day Trevor decides he’s had enough. 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” 

“I’m sure, I can’t stand the look on his face every time we pass them. I know it hurts you to see them, it won’t take me long. I’ll be back before he wakes up.” 

Sypha nods, tucking a stray hair behind Alucard's ear, he doesn’t even stir, keeping the peaceful face she and Trevor have grown to love. 

He walks out the door with one last look at the people he adores before heading out to bury the bodies that haunt Alucard. He’s bloody Trevor fucking Belmont and nothing, especially a pile of bones, hurts the people he loves. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Something is wrong. Not just wrong, very very wrong. It’s like a stench in his nose that won’t go away, like the smell of ashes and rotting flesh. Sypha is beside him, he knows that much, but the earth is missing. Trevor should be on the other side. 

Alucard sits straight up, Sypha follows. 

“Hey there, don’t worry, he’s just gone to do some cleaning outside.” 

He can barely focus on her words, he hears metal and screeching. Trevor is cussing and then he smells it. It’s sweet and savory and everything that makes vampires moan in the dead of night.

Blood. Or, to be clearer, the blood of a hunter.  _ Trevor _ ’s blood. 

Fear grips him, although it may be Sypha’s hand.

“Alucard, what is it?”

He meets her eyes, sounds getting clearer and the smell of blood becoming more pungent. His throat is raw and it hurt when he opens his mouth but he doesn’t give a shit because

“Trevor is in danger.” 

They don’t talk about how it’s the first words he’s spoken since they’ve arrived, they don’t talk about how it’s the first time he’s ever used Trevor’s name to anyone but himself. Probably because Alucard is too busy flashing off the bed and picking up Sypha like she’s his bride before they fly through the front doors, and Sypha is trying to make sense of it all. One minute she’s in bed, the next she’s in the front yard watching whatever the  _ fuck  _ the creature’s supposed to be clawing Trevor’s shirt into shreds.

He’s in bad shape, barely able to lift the Holy Grail, but he stands anyways. Blood is coming from his face, his arms, his chest, even his  _ legs _ .

Alucard breathes deep beside her, all he can see is red. Pure, livid, red rushing through his veins. Later Sypha will tell him it was one of his most badass moments, because one second he is there, nightgown and looking small and fragile, and the next he’s snarling in the face of what they’re sure is a demon, making the stupid thing dig it’s claws into the ground with his sword. 

She sees clothes on the demon, black with white trim, and then the two move so fast she’s not sure what she sees. A flash of black, a flash of red, each moving so fast her eyes can’t keep up. What she can see is Trevor falling to the ground as the fight moves away into the forest. Sypha runs to him.

“Trevor!” 

There’s blood, so much blood, and the stupid idiot has the nerve to smile at her.

“Hey there-”

“Shut up! You shouldn’t talk! You’re losing too much-”

“Sypha.”

“Blood! You idiot! How dare you face this by yourself-”

“Sypha.”

“I swear I won’t let you die so please just-”

“Sypha!” 

It’s not loud enough to be a yell, just to get her attention before Trevor convulses and coughs up even more blood onto his chest. Tears blur her vision, but a shaking hand moves to wipe them. 

“I’ve never said this before…”

His breath is labored, his voice barely above a whisper, and the tears won’t stop.

“But I...I love you. Both of you. So bloody much...I got to see you both alive again...that’s all that matters. And you’re here, so if this is it for me, remember that I love you.” He manages one more grin. “Tell Alucard for me, okay?"

He's coughing again, getting blood on her small clothes. 

"Tell him that the two of you….were my everything.”

Sypha runs her arm across her face and glares, her hands are working before her mouth can.

“Tell him yourself, you brain dead servant.” 

Blue glows, in the distance she sees fire.

  
  
  
  


A horn flies somewhere to the left but he isn’t done yet. It’s been ages since he fought, he didn’t want to fight again after last time, after Dracula, but here he is, burning with rage and slicing an arm off a demon. It’s red everywhere, he’s pretty sure he started a fire somewhere on the clash away from Trevor and  _ Trevor… _

  
  
  
  
  


_ Red eyes glare back at him, the ones that used to smile and hold him when he shook. Dracula doesn’t care that he’s shaking now. It hurts all over, if it’s possible he definitely has some busted organs, and the headache forming in the back of his head where it was smashed into the ground isn’t a good sign, but he’s alive so he rises once more.  _

_ If he fails now, Trevor and Sypha will die. Those souls, so precious to him, will be just two more names in the growing death list his father has accumulated. He won’t let that happen.  _

_ If he dies, that’s fine, as long as Dracula goes with him. As long as the two idiots rushing towards him live, he could care less.  _

_ Alucard meets the red eyes and charges.  _

  
  
  


He strikes the beast right in it’s dead heart, but doesn’t stop there. One strike turns into twenty until he smells something new. It’s salty and wet and he recognizes it all too well.

Tears. 

Sypha’s tears. 

Like a switch, the fires both in his mind and around him die out, he’s by her side before he can even blink. 

“The beast is dead, how is Trevor?”

She doesn’t even look up, glowing hands moving across every inch of Trevor’s body. 

“There’s so much blood, he’s blacked out and there’s so much, internal bleeding, external bleeding, he’s got to have cracked bones, there’s...there’s so much blood Alucard.”

Her voice breaks down, fresh tears fall as she works, Alucard sets down his sword. 

“Let me get him inside, we have a doctor’s room, something in there might help.” 

She looks up with big eyes, “We don’t have time. He- Treffy is-he’s going to-” 

_ Die.  _

Alucard grips her shoulders, just like the two of them had in the past few weeks, offering some type of grounding that seems to work. It’s hard to talk, it hurts his throat, his mouth, his chest, but he does it anyway.

“No he’s not, he’s Trevor fucking Belmont, and he’s never lost a fight. He’s not going to lose now.”

Something flashes in her eyes, a clear thought, and then her hand is reaching up and brushing something off his face. 

Blood off his face.

“Alucard, if Trevor drinks your blood would it turn him?”

Now there’s something. He’d seen his father turn people, he knew how it worked. How to keep the balance but he’s never….

“I don’t know…most likely not but I’ve never..and if it did, he would never forgive me, not to mention himself and this isn’t how the ritual goes so I think not but he-”

“Adrian! Trevor is going to die if we don’t do something! Would you rather face his anger or live in a world without him?”

Her words hit like a slap in the face. A world without Trevor Belmont...A world without…

  
  


_ “Eat shit and die.” _

_ “Yes , fuck you.”  _

_ They laugh, and for the first time Alucard doesn’t mind the man. Not when they’re laughing together like this… _

  
  


_ “If you wake her up, I can’t stop her from killing you.” _

_ Trevor rolls his eyes, but it’s playful this time.  _

_ “What? I’m just trying to sneak away for a bath, there is a waterfall a mile from here.” _

_ “More like a beer a mile from here.” _

_ His eyes widen and Alucard knows he must be going insane because here he is, thinking about how pretty Trevor fucking Belmont is when he’s blushing under the moonlight. _

  
  


_ “Shut up.” _

_ “It’s the magical door of death Belmont.” _

_ “Are you coming or what?”  _

_ Of course he’s coming, call him crazy but Alucard’s pretty sure he’d follow that crest anywhere.  _

  
  
  


_ He’s strong when he says it, and Alucard shivers as he works when he hears it,  _

_ “Tell them there are still Belmonts up here.”  _

_ It makes him smile, even if the man says ‘shit’ two seconds later.  _

  
  


_ “So, let it be my grave.” _

_ He sees the shift in Trevor’s body, the shock, the pain, and then resolve. A single eye twitch says so much more than he ever thought it could.  _

_ “No.” _

_ “No?” _

_ “No.” _

_ The words strike him odd even as Trevor explains, it’s a load of shit and they both know it but Trevor would never come out and say it, even if he stares into Alucard’s soul. _

_ “I bequeath you the Belmont Hold.” _

_ A shock goes through him, he can see Sypha’s eyes widening just as his do.  _

_ “Make that, and the castle, your home, not your grave.” _

_ He smiles when he says it, a sad one like Alucard is in a position to say no. Like he doesn’t understand the plea that’s under all that bullshit, something along the lines of ‘I care about you too much to let you die’.  _

_ Alucard smiles as he nods.  _

  
  
  
  
  


A world without Trevor Belmont would mean a world without blue eyes and snarky comebacks, warm arms, words that strike him to his core every goddamn time, and a hand waving goodbye for forty feet after a wagon takes off. A word that seems so dark it almost paralyzes him at the mere thought.

Alucard takes one look at the face of the man before him, bloodied and paling. 

The face of a man that makes up apart of him, and the other half in pleading crying eyes beside him. 

He picks up his sword. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we GOOOOOOO! are you guys excited??  
> Also, once again i'd like to thank everyone for the compliments and encouragement. writing this is a good distraction for the bullshit we're all going through right now and i have literally nothing else to do because my hours have been cut so i hope you're all ready for wherever this takes it because, just like every story i end up shitting out, i have no idea where this is going but it's going somewhere with a happy ending and that's what matters.  
> Anyways, thanks again and even though i have a bad habit of not responding I do look at every comment and they all make me happy so yeah :)


	6. A Lesson in Turning

“Will you stop pacing, he’s going to be fine.” 

Feet don’t stop, a constant rhythm back and forth. Sypha glares. 

“Alucard. He’s going to be fine. I’ve checked his vitals, he’s not bleeding, my magic tells me nothing is wrong. He’s healing quickly, but that’s to be expected, is it not?” 

She hits it like a nail on a hammer. The issue in the back of his mind, the one making him lose control over his limbs is the  _ lack  _ of injury on the sleeping hunter. There should be claw marks, bruises, blood, labored breathing, anything other than thin pink lines and a peaceful face. He’d seen his own wounds stitch together in mere second, but seeing them on someone who was supposed to be  _ a fucking human  _ was a little overwhelming. Especially because this was a human who  _ hunted monsters  _ and probably wouldn’t take kindly to being turned into one. Sure, Trevor still smelt like Trevor, no vampire smell other than his on the man, but he’d drank Alucard’s blood. Surely this wouldn’t end well.

Sypha blocks his path. Her tiny hands come up to rest on his cheeks. He sighs.

“Come sit down, have some tea. Didn’t you tell me there is a ritual to turning? Did you not say this is different? Maybe if you explain it we could figure out what might happen when he wakes up.” 

He would like to keep pacing, maybe then all the books he’d flown through in the last two days would actually be calming instead of adding to the worry and guilt growing in his mind. But Sypha is taking his hand and dragging him towards the two arm chairs beside Trevor’s bed. Alucard slumps into one of them, runs a hand through his hair and most definitely messes us the ponytail it was gathered in. 

“Right...turning rituals…”

  
  
  
  
  


_ “Daddy?” _

_ There’s a book blocking his vision, something he recognizes as one of his mothers, and although the title is blocked by big fingers, he still knows it’s some sort of poetry. Not that it matters because the book is lowered and the figure he’d been looking for looks down at him with a doting smile. _

_ “Adrian! I thought you were helping your mother plant today?” _

_ He shakes his head as the big hands reach down and soon he’s sitting in his father’s lap, both grinning ear to ear. _

_ “Mn-hum! Mama and I are done now, did you know that flowers have healing powers? They’re like us!”  _

_ Vlad laughs. “Not nearly as pretty as my two little loves, in my humble opinion.”  _

_ Adrian scowls, “Mama said the same thing. But Daddy I have a question.”  _

_ His father raises one bushy brow, a go ahead he’s learned by now.  _

_ “I know where humans come from, and now I know where flowers come from, and I most certainly know where I come from…” a haunted look comes over the boy’s face then, not a story he’d like to relearn any time soon, thank you. “But where do vampires come from? Mama said it’s different from babies and I’ve never seen a vampire willing to go in the dirt like flowers…”  _

_ Vlad almost laughs at that image, although Adrian can’t see anything funny about sticking one of those scary generals that come around into the ground, they probably wouldn’t like that one bit. The idea makes him shutter and suddenly they’re rising out of his father’s chair, moving to look out the window at the night sky. _

_ “Well, little one, I’m afraid it’s a bit of a dark subject, are you sure you want to know?” _

_ Adrian scoffs, “You said the same about babies and that was just gross! I’m seven years old, Daddy, I’m big enough, right?” _

_ Vlad snorts a response, something about him being a big brat, but he nods anyways.  _

_ “I suppose so.” _

_ It’s quiet for a moment, they can both hear Lisa in the kitchen clanking about with pots and pans, Adrian wonders what dinner will be as his father thinks. He hopes it’s fish. _

_ “Well, little prince,” his father begins, “Do you remember your mother telling you about consent?”  _

_ Adrian nods, every vampire knows you shouldn’t drink from someone without asking first. Not doing so would just be plain rude, just like his mother said.  _

_ “She’s right, of course, you should never turn someone who doesn’t want to be turned, but circumstances sometimes demand otherwise. Do you remember our conversation about vampires who don’t live like us?” _

_ Another nod, that had been a truly dark conversation. Adrian still couldn’t believe some vampires didn’t ask before they took, his mother would kill him if he ever dared.  _

_ “Sometimes, those bad vampires don’t have a choice. Our blood can save lives, Adrian. There’s healing power in it, and some humans find it addicting. When a human in our care is close to death, oftentimes the lead vampire will give them a choice, become a vampire or die. Other times, when someone has a mortal wound, simply drinking our blood provides a medicine of sorts.” _

_ “Like the kind mama makes?”  _

_ Vlad nods, “Sort of. It’s more powerful, and comes with conditions that normal medicine does not. Which is why we must be extremely careful of who we let drink from us. Unless you love the person as much as you love your mother and I, you should never let them drink from you. Understand?” _

_ Adrian nods. Mentally, he adds another rule to his book so he can write it down later. His rule book has been growing lately, but vampires without rules are dangerous, and his mother always told him that he was too kind to be dangerous.  _

_ “When turning someone, you must be even more careful. It is a tricky thing to do, and if done incorrectly, it can cost a life instead of save one. There’s a ritual that every vampire must follow. First, you must drain the human completely of whatever blood they have left, you must have their blood in your body before they can drink yours. Otherwise the transformation will not be complete. Once you’ve drained them, there is roughly one minute for them to drink your blood or they will die. They must drink at least half of you or it will not be enough. You’ll be weak because of this, so be sure to have someone else there in case of danger. A few hours of sleep and you will be fine, but the fledgling will need three days of rest before they wake. Place them somewhere dark and comfortable because they will have heighten senses and are a risk to themselves-” _

_ “Dinner’s ready!”  _

_ They turn to see Lisa in the doorway, golden hair in a bun and a glare on her face. Adrian smiles at her, completely oblivious to his mother’s anger as he hops down from his father’s arms to hug her.  _

_ “What are we having Mama?”  _

_ She graces his head with a kiss before patting his shoulder. “Why don’t you go find out, your father and I will be there in a minute.” _

_ He’s out the door and down the hallway before she can change her mind, but not far enough that he doesn’t hear her turn to Vlad. _

_ “Seriously? You’re telling him about turning? I thought we agreed he would never need such knowledge.” _

_ “He asked!” _

  
  
  
  
  


Sypha laughs. “You mean to tell me Dracula, the giant Lord of Darkness, was once a doting father, scared of a woman half his height?”

Alucard bristles, grabbing his tea. “I’ll have you know he was extremely pleasant up until her death. And by that measure, you’re sitting with the Prince of Darkness, who, less than a month ago, mind you, was sobbing on your arms.”

“What a scary Prince of Darkness you are,” she snorts. There’s a warmth in her smile now, something soft that eases the anxiety in his mind. 

“I am scary! I could kill anyone I wanted to!” 

“Is that why there were two corpses outside when we arrived? Because you’re some Prince of Darkness destined to become a monster like your father?” 

Memories flood his mind, in one second he feels more than he had in the last twenty four hours, pain, regret, guilt, anger, fear, sadness, betrayal. Alucard grits his teeth. Brown eyes come into view and he has to physically shake his head to get them to leave.

“That is something I am not ready to talk about.” 

Soft hands grasp his, it’s only then that he realizes he’s broken the arm rest. He meets Sypha’s eyes. Most of him expects some type of reproach, something that tells him that he _is_ a monster and that nothing, even saving the life of Trevor Belmont, could fix him. Instead he finds comfort, like he is a precious jewel that the mage holds close to her heart.

“It is not my place to force you. But, Alucard, no...Adrian. You are not your father. You will never become him. Prince of Darkness is not a title appropriate for someone as gentle and loving as you are. You are powerful, yes. You can be frightening at times, but I’ve seen you help pigs of humans. I’ve seen your laugh, your smile, your eyes, and in them is no evil. In them is a kindness even preachers have forgotten. You are not the son of Dracula, you are the child of Lisa and Vlad, two loving parents who would be proud of the man you are today. Trevor and I...we are proud to know you and we…” 

Sypha takes a deep breath, her eyes water and Alucard longs to wipe them, but stays put purely out of respect. She opens her mouth to continue right as Trevor groans. 

They’re by his side instantly, a mistake on their part because the man springs up, fists ready and punching right into Alucard’s jaw.

“You fucking beast! I’ll fucking kill you-” 

“OW!”

Trevor freezes, looking between Sypha’s glare and Alucard on the floor.

“That fucking hurt!” 

The man blinks. “Where’s the monster?”

Sypha sits him back against the pillows. “The monster is dead, thanks to Alucard, who also healed you.” 

Trevor blinks again. “Really?”

“Yes really, although I don’t believe you’re going to like how we-”

A head snaps to him as he rises and freezes under Trevor’s icy blue eyes. Sypha tenses, waiting for some reaction, something to tell her that the hunter is going to attack. Her hands are ready to go, already forming symbols just for precaution and then...then Trevor takes a deep breath and melts, cold eyes filling to the brim with some emotion she hadn’t seen since before Lenfeild. 

“You’re talking again.” 

That seems to restart Alucard enough for him to turn his head, but they both see the pink dusting his pale cheeks.

“Yes.” 

Trevor flops back down with a wide smile. “Oh thank fuck, I never thought I’d say this but I missed your voice, Alucard.” 

It does nothing for the dhampir’s blush, but it does make Sypha smile. 

“Wait until you find out how we healed you.”

Cold dread rushes into Alucard once more, he turns back to face them, still expecting anger, but Trevor looks nothing but curious and comfortable. Not that it puts him at ease.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll be starting dinner now. You should eat, Trevor.” 

He starts out the door before Sypha can stop him, shutting it behind him and running so he can get far enough away. Call him a coward, but he doesn't wish to hear this particular conversation. 

Trevor just looks at her, “He just said my name. Like my actual name. With no weird pompous tone or anything. Just ‘Trevor’ no ‘Belmont’...What the hell?” There’s a smile still plastered on his face and Sypha hates to be the one to ruin it, but she can’t lie to him, and they have so much more that needs to be discussed. So she sighs and takes a scared hand in hers. 

“I hope you keep that happiness when I tell you what we’ve done.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


He does make dinner, a nice curry his mother would make whenever his father returned from his travels. It’s in a pot on the stove in the kitchen, piping hot so it would be cool enough when they come down to eat. So yes, he does make dinner. 

And then he promptly flashes as far away from the two as he can, not really giving his feet direction, just going until he hits a wall of ice that throws him on his ass. Alucard glares at the door before him, grumbling about his poor behind after falling not once, but twice in a single day. Another glance at the door in front of him and he pauses. 

He knows this door. He knows it well. 

Logically, he also knows he should leave it, go up to the viewing decks and watch the world, anywhere else than here. He shouldn’t be turning into mist to seep under the cracks and into the room. Nothing good will come of it, but here he is. On the other side of the door, staring at blood stains and sheets that haven’t been changed since brown eyes and.... 

Feet carry him where he doesn’t want to go, where he shouldn’t be, where he never wanted to go again. One touch of the sheets and he’s reeling. Stumbling back until he hits the door. It’s coming back too fast.

He killed them. He slit their throats. He fucking staked them like they were just ornaments...

He gave Trevor his blood. He  _ made  _ Trevor drink his blood...he hadn’t even asked.

What a monster, what a disgrace. His mother would be so ashamed, and the thing that called itself his father...that monster would be proud of him for this. 

Where did he go? Where did the man that wanted to protect, to make his friends proud, who stood in the path of darkness go? How had he fallen so far? 

Alucard glances at the bed and sees it all in a flash. Himself and two humans...their blood, his tears and when they collapse and their heads fall back he sees brown. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want you all to know I wanted to name this fic King of the Clouds after that one panic at the disco song but it's a little late now. Maybe the next one? I'm thinking about writing two separate fics for the story I figured out so like...we'll see..


	7. A healed wound

Trevor finds him again, of course. What else would make sense other than a hunter, stepping through the door he knows Sypha has melted and sitting at the foot of a ruined bed, right next to him, a monster. 

A monster curled into himself with nothing to offer but his life in place of his crimes. Like killing his father, the same man who loved him. Like killing the twins, even though he was meant to protect them. Like forcing his blood on the man next to him, the man he loves. 

Quiet stretches around them into the crooks of shattered souls and a broken heart. Trevor leans against him, invades his space and Alucard is defenseless against it all. 

“Sypha told me-”

Less than four words and he’s cracking. Shaking and uncurling to meet a shocked face.

“I’m sorry. I am so sorry, Trevor. I didn’t know what else to do but a world without you, it’s something I couldn’t, and I never asked and fuck I have no idea what side effects there are but I’m so, so sorry. And I understand if you stake me, I utterly do and it is most definitely your right if it’s anyone's so please just, before you do it know I am so regretful and-”

Trevor’s pulling him into his lap before he can continue. 

“You really have become a coward, haven’t you?

He doesn’t cry this time, just clutches at the back of Trevor’s shirt with wide eyes and a mouth like a fish.

“What?”

They part enough for blue to meet gold, one slightly annoyed and one in terror. 

“I mean honestly, first you run away without telling us what’s happened, then you try to run when I catch you, then you won’t speak at all, and when things are finally looking up, you run and hide all over again.” 

Alucard is speechless in the face of the truth. Trevor rolls his eyes and idly twirls a strand of golden hair between his fingers.

“I suppose it’s fine, though, seeing as I  _ have _ finally caught you.” 

So much is slamming into the half-breed’s head, but he forces focus on the one that screams the loudest.

“You’re...you’re not angry?”

Trevor snorts. “Why should I be? You saved my life, I’m not a vampire, Sypha is safe...by all standards, I think anger is a weird emotion to be feeling at the moment.” 

“But I- You- I made you drink my blood!”

“And?”

“It’s the blood of a monster! You saw them on the stakes, you know what I’ve done, and you hunt things like me! This is a monster you’re holding in your arms.” 

Human eyes glare into his soul and for the first time since facing his father alone, Alucard feels...intimidated.

“Would a monster save the life of a human?”

“No, but-”

“Would a monster cry over killing two people who hurt him?”

“No, wait, how did you-?”

Trevor takes his hands and begins playing with his fingers, his brow furrows and he lets out a long sigh.

“I guess it could be a side effect of drinking your blood, or maybe because I care about you so bloody much, either way, there is something you should know.” 

Before Alucard can comment on that Trevor looks away. Both blushing at the confession, but both knowing something more important is coming. 

“After I drank your blood, and once again I’m not a vampire and you drank my blood first, so it’s really not a big deal, I more or less had a dream. A nightmare, really. You see, there you were, fishing in the woods, and then the faces in your drawings were there. Taka and Sumi, right?”

Alucard flinches at the names, tears threatening to spill.

“You took them in, you trained them in my name. You fed them, gave them more weapons than they knew what to do with, rooms to sleep in, arms to jump into...you cared for them, didn’t you?”

He gets a nod in response, but Alucard remains hidden behind a veil of hair. 

“And one night, they came to you, they lured you into their arms, and you can say you went willingly, but I felt your confusion, Alucard. You didn’t quite understand, but it felt good, so you let it continue...and then…”

The silver. The harsh words. Their swords. His pleading. Their cruel brown eyes. His sword slicing throats. His tears.

Trevor brings a hand to his lips, soft and comforting. 

“Alucard. What they did to you...it wasn’t right.”

“I killed them, Trevor. They had their lives ahead of them and I-”

“If they were alive, I promise you, Sypha and I would do much worse than you did.” 

He stays quiet after that, brushing fingers through hair as Alucard calms down. The hunter and the monster, no, the dhampir, encased in remorse and something stronger.

Eventually Sypha creeps in the room, sinking into the bed and gathering them into her arms. No words are spoken as Alucard catches his breath, clinging to both of them. 

“I felt so alone, and then they were here. Kind...they were so kind to me. Sumi never hesitated to touch me, and Taka’s smile was so sweet..I thought it was a second chance to be apart of something.. I wanted them to walk in your footsteps. I wanted to teach them everything I could, I wanted to honor you both. I thought I was doing something good, I thought I was living up to the man you all thought I was and….”

“And they’re lucky I didn’t get a hold of them. I know some interesting torture magic reserved for those who dare raise a finger to the ones I love.” 

Alucard laughs at that, a broken sound but a laugh all the same.

“Really, a stake through the ass is kind compared to the pain I want to put them through.” 

Blue is waiting when he finally looks up, not brown or red or black or anything else. Pure, loving blue.

They both smile at him, both hands squeeze his, and when Alucard smiles back he feels a lot more like Vlad and Lisa’s son. Complete in a way he's never felt before. Stronger than he's ever felt before. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Curry is still warm and a surprisingly healing meal.

It’s at a tiny table in the kitchen his mother loved that Sypha finally tells him of Lenfeild. A small town, run by a Judge. Mystery waiting at every corner. Accidentally biting off more than they intended. A ploy to bring his father back. Wounds too many to count. Children’s shoes in a hidden room. Fire burning any proof. Leaving feeling hollow and empty. 

“It’s the first time I realized how it must have felt for you, to come into the Belmont hold and see children’s skulls...it was..”

“It was awful.” Sypha supplies, clutching Trevor’s hand. Darkness has long settled on them, wine bottles litter the table. At least seven have been drunk between the three of them, much needed after letting go of the horrors they’ve clutched to their chests. 

Sypha brings her and Trevor’s joined hands to the center of the table, motioning for Alucard to join them.

“We needed a place to come back to, somewhere we could gather our strength. Somewhere safe with people we love and warmth that had left us.”

Trevor puts it bluntly, “We needed to come home.” 

“And here, Dracula’s castle? This is your home?” 

They shake their heads, Trevor actually groans, glancing over at his mage. “You didn’t tell him did you?”

She shrinks back, something uncommon given that she was more fierce than the two men at the table. “I was a little distracted by someone waking up before I got the chance.”

“Tell me what?”

Trevor slaps a hand over his face and maybe it’s the booze, maybe it’s because he’s fed up with them all being sad, maybe it’s because fear is lingering on Alucard’s face like the guilt in Sypha’s eyes. Who cares, really, he decides. It doesn’t matter what makes him do it, as long as he does.

“You’re a fucking idiot, do you know that Alucard? We didn’t come home to Dracula’s castle, we came home to  _ you.  _ The fucking floating Vampire Jesus that came out of a tomb and gave us a new life. Have you any idea what you’ve done for us? Without you, neither of us would be alive. We wouldn’t have found each other. I would still be a hopeless drunk getting his ass kicked in bars and Sypha would either be running from night creatures or fucking dead. Without you two, I never would have found love again. Without you, Sypha and I aren’t complete and by fuck if I’m the one talking about feelings then there’s clearly still something wrong here.”

Alucard’s eyes gouge out of his head, he looks between the blushing Speaker and the blushing drunk.

“You, Trevor Belmont the vampire hunter, and you, Sypha Belnades the Speaker magician…”

“We fucking love you, is it really that hard to believe?”

Yes, Alucard wants to answer. Yes it is. Those who speak of love...every interaction he’s had with it has been maddening. Love is dangerous and untrustworthy and yet, there is nothing Alucard loves more than the two drunken fools sitting in front of him. Something swells in his chest and before he can stop himself he’s smiling, so blinding the others can’t look anywhere else. They’re entranced by the halo of a man across the table, staring at them with happiness they’ve missed. 

Trevor, as graceful as ever, breaks the moment in two.

“This is where you tell us you love us too.” 

Alucard laughs as he stands. He moves to their side, taking both of their hands and copying Trevor’s earlier movements. A kiss of each of their hands, something pure burning in his eyes. 

“You’re both stupid. Reckless and caring and everything I never knew I needed until I didn’t have you. I guess that means I love you.” 

“You guess?”

“Relax, Trevor, my guesses are never wrong.” 

It’s at a tiny table in a kitchen his old family used to eat at that his new family finally clicks into place. Sypha giggles at them and before he can stop himself Alucard is pulling both of the humans into a hug and they’re all laughing. A joyous sound and one he never wants to forget. Fill him to brim with some emotion he hasn't felt since childhood. Something so precious he swears to protect it, no matter what comes their way. 

Sypha is the one to lead them away from that tiny kitchen and up the stairs, they don’t speak until Alucard moves to enter the room they prepared for him. It’s then that he finds his Speaker pulling him back. 

“And where do you think you’re going?” 

Trevor’s already disappeared into their bedroom, more than likely passed out with his boots still on. Alucard raises one perfectly shaped eyebrow. 

“To bed?” 

“We’ve just declared our love for each other, our bed is this way.” 

A gentle tug at his hand is all it takes before he’s following along. Their smell hits him and for a moment he’s overcome with how much it feels like  _ home  _ when this castle has felt like nothing more than a coffin for so long. Air gets caught in his throat at the sight of them, Trevor already asleep, Sypha waiting for him to crawl in. 

“Still making me sleep in the middle?” 

She chuckles, “This way I can get you  _ both  _ with my cold feet.” 

Alucard laughs, not for too long though. He slinks into the middle and is instantly surrounded by them. Almost as if everything good in the world was under their lock and key and they had given him permission to enter. Or maybe he had always been staring at it and refusing to succumb. 

Now, between two sleepy idiots, brash and foolish, fragile and so unbelievably strong, Alucard feels safe enough to look into brown and see things he once found just as comforting. 

Trees, his mother’s chocolate chip cookies, his father’s chair, the wagon the three rode on, bookshelves, wood in a fireplace, a deer shared with two others, and a set of eyes that needed to be forgotten. Or maybe let go of. 

That night, among snores and two different breaths on his neck, a weight lifted off him. His body felt stronger, his mind lighter than clouds. His heart, so heavy it weighed him down like he was in chains, finally escaped, fluttering in his chest and bringing him back to life. Alucard met brown eyes with a sigh and a smile, they didn’t cause panic or pain, guilt or anger. Simply a set of something, fading into the night. 

And when Alucard closes his eyes and gives into the warm lull of the bodies on either side of him, he had the best damn sleep of his fucking life. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


Grass shines a bit too green, and the moon is a little too dark for his personal tastes, but Alucard doesn’t mind. Sypha and Trevor are beside him. If they walk hand in hand with him, nothing else matters. 

Bodies litter their paths clad in black with white trim and maybe that’s the reason the grass is growing so well. Trevor has a wild look in his eyes, alert and switching his whip with his free hand. Sypha’s left hand squeezes his, her right glows with blue fire.

Hellfire. 

He can taste the blood on his fangs, tangy, bitter, like smoke in his mouth. His sword goes before them, leaving nothing in its wake. Despite the bloodshed, despite the wall of enemies in front of them, he feels calm. A cool power seeping in from the ground he walks on. Something twitches to their left, his sword is on it before he can think out a lazy order. In front of them stands two men, backs to the trio and weapons drawn against the mass. They wear familiar clothes, yet still foreign enough that Alucard can't quite place them. Something is his gut calms at the sight of them, and that is enough to completely relax his shoulders. 

Trevor rolls his eyes at the fresh blood splattering on his arm, Sypha chuckles, pulling them closer to the front lines. 

The dream falls away to a bedroom, the three of them exchanging lazy kisses and soft touches, a moan falls from his lips, Sypha nibbles on his neck, Trevor’s between his thighs. It’s good, so so  _ so fucking good  _ and he’s on the verge of begging when they look up at him. 

It’s then that Alucard pauses; instead of two sets of blue eyes, he sees one blue and one golden smoldering between nips at his upper thigh. Beside him the same blue and gold winks at him, pulling him in for a kiss. 

It’s then that Alucard feels the fangs. 

Over in an instant once his eyes are open and staring at his  _ very  _ human counterparts. In the back of his mind he knows the dream is important. He knows it’s something that should be shared and kept in the dark. 

Unfortunately, it remains much easier to fall back in the bed and pretend the dream never existed in the first place. There is nothing that can hurt them in these castle walls. Nothing that would dare even a second glance at the two humans protected by Dracula’s son. And if someone was stupid enough to try and ruin the happiness the three had found here….well Alucard would just have to stick a stake up their ass, as Trevor so elegantly put it. 

Only this time he would have help. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm working on part two of this series right now, as there is still a lot left to unpack here and I'm no where near done, but I wanted to finish this before my online classes for college start. Spring break ends today but hopefully the updates for the next parts will come just as quickly. Thanks for everything and I'll see you in the next part!


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